With all due respect to the people of the Marshall Islands, it takes a lot to convince a lot of Americans to pay them much mind.
That's a knock on Americans, not the Marshallese.
But the eyes of Northwest Arkansas -- and beyond -- have been drawn to the Republic of the Marshall Islands in recent days. The collection of islands and coral atolls is home to about 53,000 people. With several thousand Marshallese calling Springdale and the surrounding area home, the area boasts the largest concentration of islanders in the continental United States thanks largely to employment in Arkansas' poultry industry.
For several years now, people in Northwest Arkansas' legal, medical and advocacy communities have had suspicions that some Marshallese women were being manipulated. Local courts saw high volumes of adoption cases involving Marshallese individuals. Among those concerns was the question of whether cultural differences were being exploited to deliver Marshallese babies to eager adoptive parents here in the United States.
Those familiar with the situation explain how adoption in the Marshall Islands is far different than in the United States, where familial bonds are often severed by an adoption process. In the islands, adoptions can be casual, less formal, with aunts and uncles functioning as parents without the biological parent losing touch.
Here in the United States, money has gotten involved. Some arrests have happened related to arranged adoptions out of concern that Marshallese women are being taken advantage of.
A little more than a week ago, news broke of a serious case that federal prosecutors refer to as an adoption fraud scheme. U.S. Attorney Duane "Dak" Keys announced in Springdale a 19-count grand jury indictment against Paul D. Peterson, 44, of Mesa, Ariz.
Prosecutors allege Peterson, a lawyer, orchestrated an adoption scheme involving 30 or more pregnant women a year. As many as a dozen at a time stayed in one Springdale home, waiting to give birth to children destined to be given up for adoption.
Keys called the case "the purest form of human trafficking."
According to the indictments, Peterson's law firm enticed pregnant Marshall Islanders close to having their babies to give up their children for adoption, paid their airfare to the United States then gave them airfare home. Such actions would violate a clause in a treaty between the United States and the Marshall Islands that forbids travel solely for the purpose of the adoption of Marshallese children. Federal officials allege the scheme has been going on since at least 2014.
Expectant mothers packed into a Springdale house sometimes slept on the floor and were reliant on Peterson's firm for everything once they arrived in the United States, federal prosecutors said.
The allegations have created "absolute chaos" involving the adoptions, according to one attorney representing 13 couples who had signed contracts to adopt some of the children. A Washington County circuit judge has taken over the adoption cases as law enforcement and judicial officials try to sort out the details.
Let's be clear: Peterson has not been found guilty of any crimes. He faces related charges in three states. Prosecutors describe transactions involving millions of dollars.
His lawyer last week said prosecutors have miscast his client as a smuggler of humans. He credited Peterson for caring deeply for the Marshallese community, helping his clients to navigate the complex emotions related to adoptions.
Guilt or innocence of all parties must play out in the court system, but it's hard to accept any evaluation that classifies the way these women were targeted and treated as anything less than human trafficking. A house full of pregnant women awaiting birth so their children can be delivered to paying customers sounds like an incubator.
This case conjures up disturbing scenarios not all that different than in the dystopian story of The Handmaid's Tale.
Call it what you will, the situation was desperately in need of investigation and resolution, an end to any operation that treats women as a commodity whose offspring are to be sold away.
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine said in a statement last week she believes there are multiple illegal adoption rings that must be stopped. We applaud advocates for the Marshallese here in Arkansas as well as the authorities who came to understand something was amiss in these adoption cases. Undoubtedly, many lives have now been disrupted in a heartbreaking way, but it's vital that whatever abuses of human dignity occurred be set right.
Commentary on 10/20/2019